During one of our flea market rounds, we got this amazing ravioli press. Tobias used his flea market savvy to make them believe he really didn’t need it, but would be willing to buy it anyway, therefore driving down the price. They made him promise to actually try it out, which he did – and we took it home for 2 euros. If they had only known that he would use it two meals in a row…!

I really messed it up, though, by putting it in the dishwasher. What was once a shiny, brand-new-looking ravioli press became a dingy, black mess. Apparently it is made out of aluminum, which can NOT handle the dishwasher. It makes the aluminum oxidize, and once it’s oxidized, there is no going back. (Handling tips for aluminum here!) Oops. It’s rather unfortunate, since it was really shiny and pretty before! I felt really bad. But we got it relatively cleaned up enough to use it to make some ravioli. (Supposedly you can clean aluminum using vinegar and boiling water and letting it sit in it for 20-30 minutes. We’ll have to try that and see if we can get back some of its original shine!)

It took a few tries to get used to it, and Tobias of course figured out how to do this on his own, but for those of you not familiar with how to use one of these devices, there are great directions over here on Mangia Bene Pasta.

For the filling, Tobias had a mix of chopped sage leaves, potatoes, and truffle oil. But the beauty of ravioli is that you can put pretty much ANYTHING inside, so feel free to get creative! Tobias did the next day when he tried three different types of ravioli, including one that had goat cheese in it (pictured above). Mmmmm!

It’s a time-consuming process, but the result is really worth it. This is a thousand times better than anything you’d buy at the grocery store. Just add a bit of sauce to your taste (we had a lemon-butter sauce!) and enjoy!

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This was actually my idea for the ingredients, as I picked up these items after work to bring home for dinner. But Tobias was the one who put all the magic together and made it taste great. (Even though he almost didn’t want to use my peaches, but my allergic self really wanted some peaches and the only way I can eat them is if they’ve been heated up. So he conceded and it turned out just as good as I had imagined. Thanks, honey!)

Apparently I’m not the only one who has thought of this combination — after we had cooked our meal, I looked online for the ingredients to see what I could find. A shish kebab version of them is here on taste.com.au, which looks like it would be a really good treat at a barbecue! And I learned something new from that recipe. The genus name of a red bell pepper is capsicum, which is listed on the kebab recipe as an ingredient instead of “bell pepper”. I was like, what the heck is a capsicum? Googled it, and learned something new. So you can impress your friends at the next dinner party. “You simply must try some of this capsicum. It’s delicious!”

Chicken, Zucchini, Red Pepper and Couscous with Grilled Peaches

Ingredients:

olive oil

1 onion

1 medium-large zucchini

1 red bell pepper, with the skin peeled off

mini chicken filets

1 white peach

pepper, salt to taste

couscous

Cut up the onion and let them cook in a splash of olive oil. Chop the zucchini into medium-sized chunks and add to the onion. Peel the red bell pepper (something new we tried, which is not necessary, but made it more interesting – the skin can be a bit chewy sometimes), chop it, and add to the zucchini and onion.

Cook the couscous according to the directions in the box. Leave it covered so it stays warm, because it cooks really fast!

In another pan, cook up the chicken in some olive oil, adding pepper and salt to taste. Tobias also added a sprig or two of rosemary, which made the chicken taste fabulous. When the chicken is almost finished cooking, chop up your peach and into slices, sprinkle pepper and salt onto both sides of the slices, and add to the pan with the chicken. Cook them until they’re warm and a bit juicy, but not too long that they get soggy – it’s nice to have a little bit of crunch!

When finished, serve onto plates and add a sprig of parsley for the finishing touch!

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Tobias and I had this for lunch the other day. It’s pretty different from the stuff we normally tend to cook – this had a stir-fry feel to it.

Here’s how to make it:

Caramelize onion slices, chop up the chicken into small chunks and cook it in the pan with seasoning as desired. Tobias added our normal Endorphin Rush hot sauce to it for a bit of spice. (But be careful when breathing around it, because it tickles the nostrils a bit when that hot sauce gets into steam form!) Set aside.

Sautée sugar snap peas and (the fun secret ingredient!) watermelon chunks together. Add in some chopped cilantro. When finished, mix back in the chicken.

Serve with rice (which has a nice al dente texture if you use a little bit less water than normally needed and if you don’t over-cook it!) and top with some cilantro and soy sauce.

We had it for lunch with some non-alcoholic beer, although I’m sure a regular beer would taste good with it too. And I must admit I doubted Tobi’s decision to put watermelon into the mix, but it was just the right touch. Totally delicious.

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Tobias made this awesome pear and lemon tarte the other Sunday and now you can too! Here’s the recipe:

First, make the dough. Tobias took a basic recipe (which he knows by heart) and added unsweetened cocoa powder to the mix to make a chocolate-flavored dough.

Second, prepare the pears! Peel and cut into slices. Ours were not very ripe and juicy for eating, but that doesn’t matter when you’re making a pie like this. In fact, it was better that the pears weren’t too juicy because it wasn’t too runny when cooked, and the pears softened up nicely in the oven.

Roll out the dough into a pie pan, leaving a pretty big rim on the edges to wrap back up around the pears later.

Here’s where the art of it comes in: arrange the pear slices into a circular pattern, making sure as much fruit is packed in there as possible! The special thing about this pie is the outside layer of vertical pears. The tips got a bit too brown in the oven, but the unusual shape of it really impressed our guests!

Wrap the dough around the vertical pears to create a crust. Bake around 15-20 minutes at about 200°C or until the pears are slightly browned. (Baking time and temperature extremely estimated, because Tobias pretty much never cooks with a recipe.)

Take out of the oven and let cool a bit before serving. Lastly, add some lemon zest and you’re good to go! Enjoy!

Here’s some of our group, pre-dessert:

We had it two Sundays ago at our usual Tatort dinner, that time hosted at our house. Tobias and I also cooked up a nice quiche for dinner. It wasn’t the whole group, as there were only 5 of us instead of our normal 10-11. Here are Diane, Tobias & Peter listening to Frank tell a story. It’s worth pointing out this awesome bottle of wine Peter brought with him to share. It was HUGE! 1.5 liters of delicious Italian wine.

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These fresh fruit smoothies are yet another one of Tobi’s beautiful creations, this time in drink form and trying out two of our special straws we got for the wedding!

He made these on Sunday and woke me up from a nap on the couch to surprise me with this special treat. The mint was also an extremely nice touch. And boy, do I love those straws!

One of the best things about spring has been eating fresh fruits and vegetables more often. Salads are back in the menu rotation, and fresh herbs are finally back as well. We even had to buy another planter box to accommodate our growing number of herbs. This year, we’ve added mint to the mix, as well as coriander, parsley and basil. Like last year, we have rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano. Yum!

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His cooking creativity struck again, and here are a few delicious things that came out of it:

fresh cod from our Easter road trip in curry sauce with rice

The chef himself, putting the finishing touches on the sautéed fennel, lamb, and peanut pesto

And some delicious chocolate bark he made for some friends’ birthday parties. Dark chocolate bottom with nutella and raspberry or fig jam (2 different batches), topped with chilled mint leaves and thin chocolate chunks, and drizzled with white chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate. (And naturally a bit of chili in it to make it a bit spicy!) Words cannot express how delicious this was!